Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion.

Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.

On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.

Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences. [...]

That finding might surprise some, but not Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, an advocacy group for nonbelievers that was founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

“I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.”

14/15Memory retention from having it drilled into me from my private school days. Can't believe I missed the beginning of the Jewish sabbath since I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Go figure.

6/6 and 15/15 but I went to a catholic school were Religion classes were mandatory,even if you weren't catholic. If you failed that class, you were in HUGE trouble, sometimes it was very interesting because the priests taught us about other religions with details.

However, in the questions regarding the US Supreme Court rulings, I used common sense (how would I know anyway?) and I just guessed the First Great Awakening one.

I'm proud I scored way higher than my religious affiliation: Hispanic Catholic, which in turn, it's the lowest scoring group :(